Friday, January 30, 2015

It’s been a long week for me for some reason. I’m very happy it’s over. Things are looking up though, especially
since this time next week me and the little lady will be in Arizona.
I just gotta make it through the rest of the day, which isn’t looking
real easy at this point.

I hear ya.

It is Fun Friday however, which means that I can spit out a
sorry excuse for a blog (sorrier than usual) just to get out of here. I haz excite for the weekend.

It’s been cold here again, and I even saw a little sleet
yesterday. Does that mean snow is on the
way? Maybe. I think the ever so accurate weather people
say that there could be some here next weekend.
I won’t be here, luckily.

Lunchbox will though, and I know he will enjoy it.

Watch that again. It
made me chuckle, which is what Fun Friday is all about around here.

See y’all Monday, probably with another report from the
party in the woods at the short track.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

I’ve been a hat person since way back. Hats from my favorite sportsball teams,
skateboard companies, and even bike company hats the last few years. I just like having a hat on my head for one
reason or another. Maybe it stems from
growing up in Florida,
where anything to give you a little shade from the sun was appreciated. It continued while I was in the Army, since
we were required to wear some sort of head covering while we were outside.

It’s not like I’m bald and trying to cover it up. I just dig hats. But for some reason, I never could get into
the whole cycling cap thing. I thought they
looked dumb and wondered why people wore them (especially after trying one on a
few years ago.)

I did think Wesley Snipes pulled it off quite well though.

I actually thought it was just a roadie thing, but a few of my
friends (not roadies) were wearing them.
They pulled it off just fine, but I thought, “Not for me.”

Well, that has changed.

It started when I got a couple of Walz caps from
the HMFIC at DeFeet. They
had the DeFeet logo on them, so even though I wasn’t a cap guy I felt the need
to wear them in support of the brand.
Well, slowly it turned into “wearing a few times” to “I almost always
wear a cycling cap.”

Photo cred: Lunchbox

My, how times can change.

I started wearing one of my caps during my TotalCyclist
classes and really enjoyed having something to soak up the copious amounts of
sweat. It smelled pretty bad after each
class though, so I ended up washing it a lot. I started worrying about the DeFeet logo
wearing off, and since that particular cap was a one time deal I needed another
solution.

I decided to go full on and order directly from Walz.

Made in ‘Merica.
That’s what I’m talking about.

I got something specifically for riding so I wouldn’t mess
up my nice ones with the DeFeet logos.

Ordering was easy, and the price is right. Shipping from all the way out on the left
coast was much quicker than I expected too.
I’ve been wearing this cap during rides and TC classes, saving my other
ones for casual wear (and helping me to promote the crap outta DeFeet.) These are high quality caps, and while I’m
probably not in any real danger of wearing out the other ones, it’s nice to
have a few now.

I still wear “regular” hats from time to time, but most of
the time you’ll see me in a cycling cap, from Walz of course.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

I was pretty tired when I got home from the short track race
on Sunday. I felt like I raced or
something, when in fact I never even hopped on a bike that day. Standing around in the woods all day was
enough I guess. Maybe I’m getting too
old.

It all really started on Saturday.
I woke up early for another Total Cyclist class since the weather was
shitty. It was a good idea, because I
knew I would get in a ride and not be lazy on a day when all the trails around
here were closed (and it was snowing up in the hills.) It really hurt though. I put a lot of effort into each class, hoping
to come out of it stronger, faster, etc.
I see some people that are just going through the motions, carrying on
conversations, playing with their phones, etc.
I figured that since I’m paying for it, I might as well get (more than)
my money’s worth. I want to be dead when
I finish, and I achieved that goal for certain.

I stayed there well after class until my head quit spinning,
stretching to try to get my legs to respond, and hopping into a hot shower to
feel a little bit better. Eventually I
got out of there and made my way up to The Cycle Path.

While I was there, I spotted one of my stickers.

I didn’t put it there.
Srsly. I would’ve put it in the
bathroom.

I was there to get some information about shipping bikes out to Arizona. You see, D-Wayne is kind enough to let us ship our bikes out there to his house, and he even
offered to put them together for us before we arrive. I figured my local shop would be more than
qualified to ship them out there. It
makes it easier for me that way. I guess
I’ll be up there one night this week (with bikes this time) so they will get
out there in time for Single Speed Arizona next weekend.

Holy shit. I’ll be
out there next weekend. Wow.

So anyway, I know my Saturday crap doesn’t really sound like enough to wear me
out. The real reason I was tired on
Sunday was because the little lady and I stayed out really late. I went to see my friend's band play
again.

Yes, I’ve seen them a lot.
I like good ol’ classic metal, so I go every time they play. They put on a good show, and seeing live music helps keep me
inspired to play my guitar (I played for hours last night.) They’re
getting a good following now, even with me hanging around being a groupie.

Maybe they’ll come to one of my shows if I ever play one.

It could happen.

Anyway, early mornings, death by Total Cyclist, and a late
night out makes for an even longer day at the short track. I’m getting too old for this shit.

Friday, January 23, 2015

More rain.
Lovely. So much for getting
outside and getting rad this weekend.

I really hate this weather.
I’d rather have snow because I could actually go out and ride in
it. Snow is fun. Rain is not fun.

Unless you’re a Stormtrooper.

It’s Friday, which is supposed to be a fun day. Maybe
it’s not raining where you are, or maybe you don’t care. I care. There will be short track race watching on Sunday, but I’m pretty sure tomorrow will
feature more riding indoors and a Star Wars marathon. I’m also heading out tomorrow night to listen
to my friend’s band play some METAL.

Metal and Star Wars.
Maybe the rain won’t be so bad.

Enough about me. I’ll
cut this post short so you can get to doing whatever it is you wanna do this
weekend.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

The 2015 Winter Short Track Series kicks off on Sunday and I plan to be there.
However, I don’t plan to race just yet.
Sure, I’ve been “training”, but not for this. In fact, if you’re the type that trains for a race series
like that, then maybe you should set you goals a little higher. It is a great course and a great event though, and I’m so glad we have something like this around here.

But I plan to do what we did last year,
and maybe if I’m feeling a little froggy I might jump in and race one or
two. As you can tell, I’m just not that
into racing it yet, even though it could be fun. I might get out there this weekend and feel
the need to mix it up, in which case I’ll show up the following week ready to
“race.” For now, we’ll just get the
party in the woods going again. Lunchbox
has a whole new array of costumes, and I have some friends to heckle. The folks out there really need someone to
yell at them while they ride (I sure do) and I’m happy to provide the service.

We’ll play nice, even though some people act like they are out there going for the national championship.

Come on and hang out with us, or race if that’s your thing. It will be fun either way.

I am considering racing soon. Real soon.
I’m not counting my trip to Arizona
in a few weeks as a race though. I’m
looking at something a little more “serious.”

The 12 Hours of Santos is coming up next month, and although I was burned out on the whole racing
thing last year when I went down there, I’m thinking about giving it another
shot. I’ll be a lot more focused this time
around, and I actually enjoy riding bikes again. I had fun during the event last year for the most part,
but my inner demons took over and I lost the love. Hopefully I can get down there and get my
groove back.

It’s about a week and a half after the little lady and I get
back from AZ, and if I get my time off approved from work I’m in I guess. It seems like a good way to test the waters
so to speak, and maybe I can start this season off right by suffering in the
woods for twelve hours.

I like suffering. I
just didn’t feel like doing it much last year.

Fun? I will haz
it. Just as long as I keep my head
straight going forward.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Every now and then, I get the urge to get some new stuff I may
or may not need. In the case of helmets,
it usually becomes a necessity. I’ve
either crashed a few times, they get worn out, or they are just plain
stinky. All three of these were the case
lately, so it was time to act.

I’ve been pretty loyal to the same helmet for years, having
several of the same model (albeit in different colors) the whole time. After checking out the loaner helmets at the
last two Niner demos though, I got a chance to check out a brand I'd never tried before. I tried a few on (they
were clean), and I liked the style and fit.
Sensing a chance to make a controlled change, I ordered a new helmet
from Kali Protectives.

I dig it. It looks
cool (which may or may not be important), it fits well, and doggone it, I like
it. The kicker is that I haven’t
actually worn it yet, since I’ve been spending a lot of time either
riding indoors or out on the road. I
guess this weekend I’ll get the first crack at it when I actually go for a
mountain bike ride. The time and place
have yet to be determined, but I know I’ll get rad wherever I go.

Mountains, local, whatever…I’ll get out to ride some dirt
somewhere.

Next up is a neat (to me) thing that was designed by my buddy D-Wayne. It was
a long time in the making, and even longer for me to actually get it.

Check it out.

Now I have a t-shirt with the cartoon version of myself to
wear around. It may be a little
narcissistic of me to wear a shirt with my own likeness on it, but who gives a
shit.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

For some, but not me.
Yesterday was a holiday for a lot of people, so I took a day off from
here. It’s not like you missed much
anyway.

Over the weekend, I was on call for work. No big deal, but I couldn’t really plan
anything good. Instead of trying my luck
riding on a trail somewhere local, I went to TotalCyclist first thing Saturday
morning. It was a guaranteed hard ride,
and it’s really close to work in case some shit goes down and I have to go in. Luckily I didn’t, but at least I got in a
ride of some sort. That’s probably the
main reason I keep going there.

With the rest of the day in front of me, I went
shopping. I had some errand type stuff
to do, which included getting a new smarter phone.
Mine was pretty old and it was acting up, but I’d been putting up with
it for so long because I didn’t feel like changing everything over to a new
one. I’d been in the market for a new
camera too, but it turns out that my new phone killed two birds with the
proverbial one stone.

It takes pretty good pictures I guess.

Not the best example, but it was all I could do on short
notice. Going forward, I could quite
possibly have mo betta photos for this blog.

The rest of the weekend was quite dull. I washed my truck, rearranged and cleaned the
living room, and watched some sportsball.

It was a lot of stuff to do I guess, but it didn’t wear me
out. I can’t say the same for Carl.

Today’s post is much about nothing. It’s sorta my way to ease into the week I
suppose. Tomorrow, I’ll have some stuff
to talk about when I mention some new items I’ve recently acquired and maybe
even some plans I’m working on for another out of town race.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Just not every single day around here. I wasn’t here yesterday, and I’m good with
that. I decided that it’s okay to take
random days off during the week, especially if I don’t have much to talk
about. Besides, I’m not feeling too
great still. I didn’t sleep too well
Tuesday night, so yesterday morning I decided that blogging could wait. It’s my own fault though after spending
Saturday out in the cold, waking up feeling bleh, then going outside in the
cold again another day to clean some bikes.

Having a single speed is easy, maintenance wise. Clean, lube the chain, add Stan's sealant to the
tires, check random bolts for proper torque, etc. It wasn’t much of a challenge, so I grabbed the
little lady’s filthy bike, that hasn’t been cleaned in far too long even though
I recently installed a drooper post.

New parts installation usually means a wash first. Meh.

I used the last of the ProGold wash and got her bike all
shiny and new looking.

With all those gears, I had to spend some time remembering
how to adjust everything. Shifty bits now shift properly and all that. I
felt like I accomplished something, especially since I also washed The Executor
(my Niner ROS9.)

Sorry, no photos of that excitement. You’ve seen enough clean bike photos.

I am pretty excited, but not about clean bikes. I got some pretty cool news. Since I ‘m not very good at segues (even
though I did just mention Niner), I’ll show you a screen shot from an e-mail I
got Tuesday night.

Yes, I am now a Niner Ambassador. And yes, they picked me for some reason. Over 1,300 applied, and they somehow narrowed
it down to less than 75 people (worldwide.)
I’m sure there were more than a few folks that were just trying to
“score some free stuff” or whatever, but I bet there were a lot of good people
on that list that should have been selected but weren’t.

So yeah, I feel pretty honored. I met the requirements I’m sure, but I don’t
feel like I’m better than the ones who didn’t make it. I may act like a douche on here sometimes,
but I know I’m not all that. It’s just
fun to pretend sometimes.

And it will be fun representing Niner this season
(officially now), along with all the other great supporters you see over there
on the right of this page.

I’m not exactly sure what this “season” holds, but there
will definitely be more riding, some training, a little racing, and a whole lot
of fun on two wheels.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

After spending the day in the cold air at the WhitewaterCenter on Saturday, I started feeling
kinda shitty that evening. I woke up
Sunday feeling even worse. I had the
chills and body aches, but with no other outward symptoms I figured I would be
fine. Maybe I pushed myself too hard
“training”, because it sure as hell wasn’t due to the fact that I had too much
beer.

Some people did though:

Yeah, we “partied” out there. And by “partied” I mean heckled and drank
beer. We’re pretty good at that.

And we got a few good photos for a new Facebook page out there (that I
don’t want to mention because I’m nice sometimes.)

I feel a little better now, but still kinda shitty. With another TC session this morning, it’s
all I can do to create a decent blog post (that’s most days.) So, here are some more rad photos:

Monday, January 12, 2015

There’s no need to talk about all the cyclocross shit going
on out in Austin. I don’t care.
Besides, plenty of other people are talking about it. I’ll talk about what I’m good at…me.

Saturday started off pretty good. It was freezing here, so I ended up at
TotalCyclist early in the morning just so I would get in a
good ride.

I worked my ass off in that class. While I am indeed
“training” (without any specific goal) I’m just trying to push it as hard as I
can while I’m in there. I paid dearly;
because once the class was over I was worthless. I stretched for a while, took a shower, and
took my sweet time heading over to the WhitewaterPark
to watch some folks race in the drained man-made river.

There are lots of photos out there on The Internets, and I
took some too: